US President Joe Biden has laid out new measures to tackle America’s gun crisis against a backdrop of surging violent crime that his Republican rivals have been able to politicise over the last few weeks.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that with major cities seeing a devastating spike in shootings, homicides, and armed robberies, the president warned Americans that the upward could carry into the summer, following months of coronavirus lockdowns.
Biden unveiled his strategy during a televised address following a White House meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, a bipartisan group of city mayors and law enforcement leaders.
‘We’re taking on the bad actors,’ Biden pointed out with optimism.
‘We’re not changing the Constitution, we’re enforcing it,’ he added, apparently in response to Republican critics who warn the president’s efforts at gun control amount to constitutional overreach.
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The president stressed that his administration has acknowledged a spike in violence — homicides in the first quarter of 2021 were up 24 percent over the same period last year, it said — as justification for stricter gun laws.
‘We have an opportunity to come together now, as Democrats and Republicans, as fellow Americans, to fulfill the responsibility of government in our democracy: to keep each other safe,’ he said, urging Congress to act on sensible gun control legislation.
Violent crime has risen over 18 months as the nation grappled with the coronavirus outbreak that shook the economy.
‘As we emerge from this pandemic, an additional summer spike may even be more pronounced than it usually would be’ Biden said.
His plan addresses ways stemming the flow of firearms used to commit violence.
It also enables jurisdictions to reallocate unspent Covid-19 recovery funds to pay for new police hires, crime-fighting technology like gunshot detection systems, and expanded efforts to prosecute gun traffickers.
Biden also signaled that authorities would crack down on what he described as “merchants of death” who supply the bulk of weapons used in crimes.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
